Hiya! (waves)
SHIN: Welcome to the Chapter Seven of Twin Thieves and the last installment of 'IDENTITY ARC'. The next arc should be fun!
Yeeeeeyyyyyy! It's nearing!
SHIN: Just read it…
Oh I have a review. (reads) Thank you for thinking that way, Lectori Salutem-san! It's nice to hear that! Sorry about the first few being short, I just got the idea there and after that it keeps pouring at me.
DISCLAIMER: Nope, not mine! Just please don't let me remember that this awesome manga and anime was not mine to keep all by myself! (cries)
CHAPTER SEVEN: RED-HAIRED HOUSEHOLD
When good friends walk besides us
On trails that we must keep,
Our burdens seems less heavy
And the hills are not so steep;
Sanji directed Nami towards the Innova they used to get here, with Zoro and Luffy at the rear. He opened the door and let Nami in at the back seat and himself at her side while Zoro, then, directed Luffy at the leather captain seat facing the backseat at the middle before letting himself in. Sanji turned at the driver. "Franky, to Baratie."
Franky nodded.
It took an hour from there to Baratie without any hitch. Inside the car on the way to Baratie, Sanji kept on flirting with Nami and Nami kept on ignoring his advances, Zoro decided to took a nap and Luffy, so bored, decided to sit in front and chatted away with Franky while driving. Whey they stopped at the restaurant, Sanji helped Nami getting out. Luffy, meanwhile, enthusiastically opened his part of the door and yelled, "ZORO!" which startled Zoro awake with a grinning Franky at Luffy's side.
Inside the bistro, they all ate and chatted away everything they have to offer. Or in Zoro's case, listening to their chat and studying their new acquaintances. Luffy tried stuffing himself with food, much to the amused disgust of the others. Nami knocked some sense into his head. Not so softly. "Quit it!"
Luffy pouted. "But it's delicious!"
Nami glared.
Zoro cleared his throat and asked, "By the way, the two of you, where do you live?"
Sanji and Franky looked at them.
Luffy, initially, quieted down. Live that to the expert, as they say. Nami gave her most dazzling smile. "Here and there." she waved.
The three of them look at her oddly. Never mind the saying, time for Luffy to shine. "She means that we live just about everywhere because of our father's profession."
Franky piqued interest. "What's his profession, then?"
"A seller" was the simple answer.
"Of what?" Sanji inquired more.
At the same time the question was asked, Nami's phone went off. Nami excused herself and answered. Luffy stopped talking and started eating his food at a record speed pace. All were listening to Nami.
"Hello…Oh! Hi… Sorry… We went bored and Luffy's hungry again, so we decided to leave… Ah, we went to Baratie… We don't but our friend, the son of the owner said it's on the house." She turned to Sanji and gave him a seductive smile which turned Sanji into a puddle of romantic bliss. And back to her phone. "Yes, yes, we'll go home now…Ok, the car then…We'll wait here, don't worry." She flipped the phone off and the one-sided conversation stopped. And Luffy burped.
They all stared at him strangely. Nami turned her eyes back to the other three and sat down at the chair near Sanji. "That was out guardian, calling us as to why we went missing at the party." she smiled, sheepishly.
"He's at the party?" Franky questioned.
Nami nodded. "Yes, he's coming here along with the limo." And poke her food. They talked to each other as if all of them are never going to meet again, talking about random topics or praising the food's taste. When Sanji remembered his question before, he tried again to asked but to no avail, Nami kept on interrupting him or by turning his attention away to something such as her seductive grins or sway of her hips which turns Sanji into the 'I'm so much in love with you' mode with an additional twirl. And Zoro couldn't help but to notice, he tried himself to ask but always found himself being cut off by the other guest, Luffy's frantic wave of hand or that blatant voice of his all while talking to Franky. Zoro glared at them suspiciously from his seat.
An hour later, the car came and the three gawked. An Optra car.
'These two must be very, very rich.' The three thought. And they tried to looked at the inside to see their guardian Nami was talking about. But they failed badly because Luffy's lithe form kept on blocking their view of the inside. They said their goodbyes and good nights to each other and off they went home.
The weary miles pass swiftly,
Taken in a joyous stride
And all the world seems brighter
When friends walk by our side.
On the way to home, Ben lectured them about their suddenly-disappearing-in-the-middle-of-the-party-and-nearly-giving-the-poor-hosts-heart-attack act that should and would never happen again. Unless someone knew where they would go. When the car halted at the front porch, their butler opened the door and welcomed them back.
"Yohohohoho, welcome back young lady, young lord and master." he bowed.
"Nice to see you, too, Brook." Nami greeted back, smiling.
Brook bowed again. "Young lady, would I se~?" He didn't need to end it for the reason that Nami already answered him. With a punch on the head and a free contact with the floor. Luffy chuckled and Ben grinned.
Brook was hired because he knew something he should have forgotten years ago. Brook was one of their victims on their snatching years at downtown. He remembers the both of them and blurted out, "Snatchers!" while pointing at their direction in the middle of middle town. Frozen on the spot, Luffy and Nami couldn't comprehend what happened but with help of Shank's deadly glare and Ben's dark aura, the little scene was done before it even started. Shanks and Ben wanted him dead or thrown in the black market however Luffy opposed and asked Brook if he wants to work for them but not as a snatcher, of course. Brook obliged and he became the butler and the inventory keeper of the family.
Nami marched to the house and was welcomed by their family doctor.
"Welcome back, young lady."
"Thank you, Chopper."
Chopper was a different story. Born from a poor family, Chopper has a medicinal mind and cute appearance. His family needed money to live so him being young and all was sold at the black market and was thrown at the human slave corner. Nami, dragging Luffy, chosen that day to stroll around black market and saw him. He was brought by them and upon knowing that he wants to be a doctor someday but doesn't have enough money to study, he was sent to live and study with the original family doctors, Dr. Kureha and Dr. Hiruluk. And here he was, the present family doctor and the jewelry-chemical maker of the family.
"Oh by the way, young lady, Miss Nico called something about your father…"
Nami twirled, surprised. "What about him?"
"You father wants something for his client, Miss Nico said. Preferably, a water or a leaf." Brook answered her.
"Robin?"
"Yes, young lord. She called; she needs it as soon as possible." Chopper nodded.
If Ben Beckham was Shanks' right-hand man at the society, then at the black market it was Nico Robin. Robin practically grew up in the black market territory; she tried every way to save herself: stealing money, mugging cash and betraying people. And she even kidnapped Luffy when he was fifteen, much to Nami's panic. When police traced her, Luffy saved her from them and asked if she wants to work for them and, because she owned her life to him, she agreed. She was now happy and enjoying herself as the best-jewelry seller at the black market and the family's history keeper of each stones and other things.
"Okay, then. Let's go to the garden and pick up that clear water or a luminous leaf." Nami smiled, walking towards her room to change with Luffy behind her.
"Yes, ma'am." they saluted, smiling.
'Another hunting again.' Brook and Chopper smiled.
MUSIC: solve by dream
Ha…
SHIN: What's wrong?
Another evil plot bunny attached himself on my head, and I'm trying to get it off.
SHIN: You mean your making another story? One Piece again?
(nods) I can't help it I LOVE ONE PIECE!!!!!
SHIN: (a brow arched) Sure~. R&R guys!!!!